Chapter 12, Hebrew chapter 12.
We're going to pick up in verse 3.
Kind of work my way down through 13, maybe 14, at least to 13. We
don't run out of time. I titled this message, I really
had a couple titles in mind, and the reason I title messages
is usually for me, when it comes to preaching and getting a message,
if I get the title of it first, I've got direction. If I see
the title in a minute, then I've got the direction of which way
to go with it. And the two titles that stood
out to me was the chastening hand of God, or the purpose of
chastening. training, discipline. That's
more than just, that means more than just getting a whipping.
You know, when I was growing up, chasing you is getting a
whipping. But here it has, it means a lot more than that. Now,
this chapter started out with the apostle comparing the life
of faith like an athlete running a race. It's not easy. It takes discipline. There's
going to be hardships to be expected. We should expect them. In this
life, we ought to expect hardships and be thankful when the Lord
gives us an easy road from time to time. And the believer's strength
in this race is looking unto Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the object of it. He's the
object of faith. He's the goal and He's the end
of this race. He's the one that when life is
over, that we want to be with. As Paul said, having a desire
to depart and be with the Lord, not just to depart and get out
of the troubles of this life, but to be with someone, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, as you run, You're going to get weary. You're
going to be tempted maybe even to draw back. Sit down. You may even question the purpose
for running the race. That's the purpose of this letter
because some were being tempted to draw back. Some did draw back.
Some were being tempted. They were struggling under persecution. And they were getting weary.
You ever wonder when is it going to end? Have you ever had a trial
that you just thought, is there no end to this? And they were going through this,
they were being persecuted and it was like, is there an end
to this? So the apostle in writing this
tells us and gives to us the purpose of God chastening us.
Now, when this happens, when we start to get a little weary
in this race, a little tired, a little worn out, It just happens
we're given something to do. Here's something to do that will
help you. Consider Him. That word consider means to meditate.
Think upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider Him that endured, He
persevered, and it also means this, He remained under. He remained
under. Consider him that endured such
contradiction, and that word means hostility. Meditate upon
him who persevered and remained under hostility against himself.
You're given a person to consider, a person to consider, Jesus Christ,
God in human flesh, a very real man, in the flesh like you and
I, and yet He's God. This is God. Listen, we are not
running a race that Almighty God hasn't already ran. Isn't
that amazing? That the God of creation would
come into this world and run this race. That's why He's called
the author and finisher of our faith. He's the example of it.
Not only the beginner of it, but He's the example of it. So
we're given a person to consider, the Lord Jesus Christ. What are
we to consider? Well, first of all, what he endured.
Consider how much more he had to endure than you and I. He considered, or he endured, it says here, contradiction or
hostility. I mean hostility that was unchecked. They hated him. They hated him,
they despised him. They wanted to kill him on every
turn. In comparison to what our Lord
endured, what we endure is no real comparison, is it? Is it
really? If you stop, He endured the hell
of God's wrath. He not only endured the hatred
of men, and the hatred and attack of Satan, he endured the hell
of God's wrath against sin. He endured that. He endured it. Look over in 2 Corinthians. Look at the way the Apostle Paul
treats what you and I go through compared to what we have in Christ. in the
Lord Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, look
in verse 17. You know, I've learned that one
of the reasons I get confused is I talk too much while I'm
turning. I need to learn to just turn and shut up and then I won't
get so confused. Okay, verse 17. For our light
affliction Paul was stoned. Paul was left for dead at one
time. He said, we are stressed on every side and afflicted. I mean, you can go through in
one place where he lists out what all happened to them. And he says, our, he includes
his own afflictions. For our light affliction was
but for a moment. There's an end to it. Listen
now, there's an end to every trial. There's an end to every
heart. Now, I may have to die. Seriously. But there's an end to it. It
won't follow me beyond the grave. But there's an end to it. For
our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Paul calls our
afflictions, he calls them light in comparison to what Jesus Christ
went through. In order to redeem us, to have
us, it's light. It's light. That's why we are
told to consider Him. He was rejected by His own. He
came to His own. His own received Him not. He
was rejected by the whole human race. He was rejected by His
own creation. The Scripture says He was despised. There might be some people that
maybe don't like me. I don't know. despised? I don't know. I've never met
anybody just that said to me, I despise you. He was despised. I mean, in the full sense of
the word, in a full sense of that word, he was despised. Everyone
turned thumbs down on him. And if we take, now listen, if
we take the eye of faith off of Christ, whom we are told to
consider, we will grow weary and we will faint because He's
the source of our strength in this race. Now, when we get weary
and tired and troubles maybe just seem to be too long and
too hard, consider Him. Set your mind, if at all possible,
off of yourself onto Him. And know this, in verse 4, you've
not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin, Now you
may have resisted to the point of tears, and it may have caused
you some real heartache and tears, but striving against sin? Their striving against sin was
striving against renouncing their faith in Christ in order to escape
persecution. That's what they were striving
against at that time. But our Lord, if you'll remember
in the Scriptures in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was in such
agony that he sweat great, not a little bit, not a little bit,
great drops of blood poured from his skin. That word striving
means to fight agonizingly against, agonizingly against. I've never
done that. I can't say I have fought agonizingly
against something like that. But now the writer here, starting
in verse five, he's gonna turn to this subject of chastening.
He's gonna tell us the real purpose for them being persecuted and
the real purpose for what God puts us through. Whatever he
puts us through, individually, there are things we will go through. Some of us, or some will go through
greater heartaches than others. Some will. But he's gonna tell
us the purpose for them. And he says here, it's for the
purpose of chastening. Now, what does chastening mean? What does it mean? What's he
talking, what's he saying here? What's he saying? Well, one of the best that I
read here in the last few days is this. It includes the whole
training and education of children. Listen, the scripture says, parents,
bring your children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
Well, you think he's not going to do that? He's going to do
that. He's going to train his children
up in the fear and admonition of
the Lord, of him. It also means this, it's whatever in adults
cultivates the soul, especially by correcting mistakes and curbing
passions. God will send trials along and
troubles along that will help pull us back in line and curb
the passions of this flesh. It's also this, instructions
that increase virtue. Instructions that increase virtue.
The persecutions were being used of God as chastening. Now listen, they saw them as
persecution. The apostle is going to put it
in its true light. It's the chastening hand of God.
It's the training hand of God. You're in school now. You're
in school. You're in class. Now learn something. Learn something about what God's
putting you through. Learn something from it. And that's why he's
saying that the persecutions were being used to prove the
faith and make a clear distinction between true and false faith.
There were some who made up this church who professed to believe,
but they didn't. And there were some who did.
But this persecution was weeding them out. It was separating the
tares from the wheat and the sheep from the goats. That's
what it'll do. It'll prove faith. Persecution
and troubles and trials and heartaches will not run a child of God away
from God. It'll run that child to Him.
It's like a little kid that stumps his toe or falls down and skins
his knee and it cries and runs to its mother or father. And
when we get hurt, and when we hurt, and our heart hurts, and
those things happen, we run to Him. We don't run away from Him.
He knows how to bring us to Himself. He knows how to do that. The
chastening God puts His children through helps them to discipline
their passions. You have any trouble with your
flesh? You still have any trouble with it? You got that conquered. Well,
if you do, tell me how you did it. It helps to discipline the passions,
it helps to prove faith, and it helps to make more clear their
need of Christ, our need of Christ. There's one thing I've learned
over the years is through the troubles and the heartaches and
the trials is how much I need Jesus Christ. And I am convinced
more now than when I started 40 years ago that salvation is
all of grace. And if it's not, I ain't gonna
make it. And it all hinges on Jesus Christ. And if not, I'm
not gonna make it. I know that. I am a thousand
percent convinced of that. Without Him, there's no way I
couldn't make it. But now here's one of the problems. Here's the greatest problem.
Their problem at the end? Their problem at the end? And
it's our problem when we get to murmuring, complaining, and
confused, and whatever. He says in verse 5, you've forgotten. You have forgotten. Let me get
back to verse 5. And you have forgotten the exhortation,
that's what you've forgotten, which speaks unto you as unto
children, not slaves, and not even as servants, but children. You have forgotten, listen, The
Word of God. You've forgotten. You are so
wrapped up in your trouble. You're so wrapped up in your
persecution and what's going on that you have forgotten the
Word of God. You've forgotten what God's Word
says. If you would remember this, you'd say, I know what's going
on. I know why this is happening.
You've forgotten the Word of exhortation which speaks unto
you as unto children, My Son. Not my slave, my son. Despise not thou the chastening
of the Lord, nor faint when thou rebuke of Him. That's in Proverbs
3. Look over in Proverbs 3. Here's what he's saying. You
have forgotten. The Word of God. Where is it we get our comfort?
Where is it? The Word of God. I think it's
in either 1st or 2nd Thessalonians. I didn't write it down. But it
says, comfort ye one another with these words. He's talking
about the Lord bringing those who'd fallen asleep with Him
when He comes. And at the end of that, He says, comfort one
another with these words. Our comfort. Our instruction
comes right from this book. We have a book. We have words from God. Verse
11 and 12 of Proverbs 3. My son, despise not the chastening
of the Lord. Isn't that something to even
say that? To say you despise what God's doing that's for your
good? Neither be weary of His correction."
When's this going to end? When's this over? For whom the
Lord loveth, He correcteth. Even as a father to the son in
whom he delights. If God's correcting you, it's
evident He delights in you. We find ourselves in a spiritual
tizzy When we forget the Word of God, when we forget the Word
of God, you have completely forgotten what the Word of God says, as
if you never read it. And here's the exhortation. My
son, this is written to God's dear children. This is written
to you, to me. My son. I cannot put enough emphasis
on what it is to be a son of God. I was thinking today, and
I've never thought of it this way before, but I was thinking
today that to be a son of God, you have to be born of God, you're
birthed of God. You know what that means? That
which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. You know what that means?
It has to mean this. You are a descendant of God. You have to be. If I'm born of
God, right? I have to be a descendant of
God. That new man that is born of God in righteousness and true
holiness only comes from Him. He comes from nowhere else. It
comes from Him. And this is to you, my son. Despise
not the chastening of the Lord. One old Puritan said this, Corrections
are pledges of our adoption. They are badges of our sonship. That's what they are. Let me
read that again. Corrections are pledges of our
adoption. They are badges of our sonship. That's what they are. Stop making light. This is what
he's saying. Despise not thou the chastening.
The meaning of it is this. Stop making light of the Lord's
discipline and training and teaching you. Don't make light of that.
He doesn't do that for everyone. You know, I disciplined two boys
growing up. I had two sons. I disciplined
them growing up. I didn't discipline my neighbor's
kids. They weren't mine. They were not mine. And I didn't
discipline them. I disciplined those two boys. They were mine. God disciplines His own. He trains. He teaches. He instructs. His
own. And don't make light of that.
Consider whose hand is on you. Pay attention and listen. You're
in class. You're in class, and this is
one class you don't graduate from until you die, and then
you graduate. Nor faint, that means to lose
heart. Now I'm telling you, I'm standing
here saying this, but I know what he's saying because I have
lost heart. I mean, there's been times I've
lost heart. There's been times I've just
been weary of trouble. I've just gotten weary of it.
And I have said in my heart, Lord, when is this going to end?
Is it ever going to end? Don't lose heart and give up
when you are rebuked that is corrected by God. To put it in my language, it
might be a little dangerous, but to put it in my language,
stop falling apart and wanting to quit every time you're corrected. That's what He's saying. Stop
falling apart. Don't take it lightly. Consider
whose hand is on you. Nothing's happening to you accidentally.
Everything's happening to you. God has ordered it. It is divinely
ordered of God. And know this. In verse 6. Know
this. For whom the Lord loveth, He
chastens. He disciplines. He corrects.
He trains. And scourges. Every son He whips. Another word for that is punished,
but it's not in the legal sense. Christ was punished by the law. We are not punished in that sense
at all. But He scourges every son whom
He receives. There's not a person in here
that is good enough in this life to go without correction. None. None. The rod is used in
love. It is used to teach you and me
something. It is used, now listen, to conform
us to the image of Christ. Do you really want to be conformed
to the image of Christ? This is what it takes to be made
partakers of His sufferings. The rod is used in love. It is
used by our Father for our good. And it is used not only for correction,
but instructions. Let me ask you a question. Would you rather God just leave
you alone No. No, my prayer is, Lord, don't
leave me alone, but don't leave me alone in correction. Bring me through it. Bring me
through it. Children are not supposed to
raise themselves. Everyone in here knows that.
We all know it. Children are not to raise themselves. Everyone that hath learned, everyone
that, let me think, everyone that hath heard and learned of
the Father, Christ said, comes to me. All thy children, this
is in the Gospel of John, all thy children shall be taught
of God. And all that have heard and learned
of the Father cometh to me. God takes everyone, his children,
in hand. Think of who your teacher is.
Infinite wisdom is your teacher. Infinite knowledge is your teacher. Now the purpose of verse 7, the
purpose for the persecution, it was for their discipline,
it was for their instruction. He says, God's dealing with you
as sons. What kind of father would not
chase his son? I'll tell you what kind of father
would not chase his son. A terrible one. A terrible one. A father that doesn't give a
flip about his son. Now, he says in verse 8, to be
without chastisement or discipline. You know what it means? It means
you're not His. You're just illegitimate children.
Your faith is a fake. It's not real. In the Old Testament, here's
where And this is where they were, I think, having some confusion. In the Old Testament, it was
generally thought that when things bad happened, God was against
you. Things good happened, God was for you. You've got to realize
that as a whole, they were under the law. If they did right, they
were rewarded, and wrong, they were punished. But God has always
dealt with His children, His true children. He's always dealt
with them in love. And He's always disciplined them.
Always. And He's telling them this, and
us this, that when we go through heartaches and trials and troubles,
it's from the hand of a loving Father, not God who's upset. Or mad, or out of control. No,
it's love, it's absolute love. Now, if we submitted, he's gonna
give an example here in verses nine and 10 about our earthly
fathers. He's gonna use them as an example.
If we submitted to the discipline of our earthly fathers, and when
I wrote, or thought about this, trying to put this in words I
can communicate them, I wrote down, whose discipline is flawed. Not every time I disciplined
my son I was right. And not every time my father
disciplined me was he right. But yet he was right. He's my
father. And there's times when we discipline
out of what? Anger. You just get tired of
listening to it. Just shut up. I told you to do
it. You just get upset and you fly
off. God doesn't fly off. It is ordained. It is sin of God. And it's for
the right time, for the right situation, for the right purpose. Every time. Every time. Now,
he said, you submitted to the discipline of your earthly fathers. How much more shall you submit
to the discipline, the chastening hand of your heavenly father? and live. That's not just live
eternally, but just live on this life in peace and quietness. Now he says in verse 11, now, No chastening for the present
time to be joyous. That's not what I'm saying. He said, now don't get me wrong
here. I'm not saying that persecution, troubles, trials, heartaches,
whatever God sends our way, that we should just laugh and enjoy. No, he said, there's no discipline,
no chastening for the present when it's happening seems to
be joyous. It's grievous. You wouldn't call
it discipline. You wouldn't call it chastening
if it's joyous. It's grievous. Nevertheless,
now listen. Nevertheless, it yields the peaceable
fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. To be chastened, it's painful.
But when it's over, it yields, it says here, the peaceful Fruit of righteousness. You know, peace
is the fruit of righteousness, isn't it? Look over in Isaiah
32. In Isaiah 32, look in verse 17. Isaiah 32, 17. and the work of righteousness
shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness,
and assurance forever." That's Isaiah 32, 17. And the work of
righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness,
quietness, and assurance forever. Oh, that's the work of righteousness. That's the work, listen, of His
righteousness. Peace with God. peace in the heart, peace of
conscience, quietness. You know, there's a real, I think for believers now that
are, especially as they mature in the faith, there's a real
quietness of mind, a real quietness. You go through trouble, you have
some real trouble, but you're able to lay down at night and
go ahead and go to sleep. There's just a real peacefulness.
Even though you're troubled, and even though your heart aches,
you're still able to lay down at night and find some rest. It yields the peaceful fruit
of righteousness to them who are... Now here's the key word.
Here's the key word. Exercise. The trial, the trouble, whatever
it is that God puts me and you through is an exercise. He's exercising us. Most people
don't like exercise. You can tell by looking at me.
Most don't like exercise. As I've gotten older, I've gotten
to the point where I used to, when I was young, it was fine. It's like pulling teeth. But it's good for you. You know
that, you know for your body, one of the best medicines you
can do is the regular exercise. It's one of the best medicines
you can take. And the key word here, it yields
the peaceful fruit of righteousness to them who are being exercised
by persecution. by trial, by heartaches. This
is what it's going to yield. It has a yield to it. Peace. Those who have been trained
by discipline and chastening are recompensed by peace. Peace. That's one of the things
I can honestly say that there's some people I have known and
watched over the years and they've grown older, much older than
me now. And I have watched them and they have just such a peaceful
confidence about them. They've grown up in Christ and
matured in Christ. They have peace, peace with God,
peace with conscience. What's peace of conscience worth?
What's it worth to quiet an accusing conscience? To just peace, quiet. the kind of peace that comes
through the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know,
I don't know if I can make this example really fit. Let me see
if I can. I read something years ago. I can't remember which coach
I read this from. I don't know if it was Vince
Lombardi or Tom Landry or which one it was. He's one of those
professional coaches. He said his job was to make men
do what they hated to do that they might achieve their dreams. And I thought about that today
and I thought the Lord puts us through what you and I would
not go through in order for us to achieve being in his presence. Now we don't achieve it by those
things, you know what I'm saying. But to bring us into his presence,
there are things he's gonna put us through in this life. Would
you know God? Would you walk with God? He's
gonna burn the dross off. There is no close walking with
God without dross being burnt off. Sin being dealt with. I don't know if that's really
applicable or not, but it made sense to me. It made sense to
me. In verse 12, wherefore, so then,
so then, or because of chastening, because chastening is necessary
and serves for discipline, He has just told us why we are disciplined,
why we are chastened. And seeing this as so, and it
is for our good, and as God's hand is in it, He's training
us, He's educating us. Lift up your hands. He says, lift them up. Lift them up. You know what that means? Stand
upright. What did God say to Job? Stand
up. Gird up your loins and stand
up like a man. Quit walking around with your
shoulders drooping down, your hands drooping down. Quit that.
It means this. It means restore to straightness. And the feeble knees. The literal translation of this is
weak limbs. You ever get weak-kneed? You
ever have something scare you so bad? When I was a boy growing
up on the farm, I couldn't have been over 10 years old. We lived in this big farmhouse.
I went upstairs. Nobody's upstairs. This is how
fear will shut you down. And that's what he's talking
about here. Fear has shut them down. But I went upstairs and I was
standing there by the bed. I remember this just like it
was yesterday. It still gives me the willies
when I think of it. And there's nobody there but
me. But I remember the feeling. I remember the feeling. But I
was standing there by the bed and the closet door popped open. The closet door popped open.
I fell back on the bed stiff as a board. I was that fear. I mean that fear overtook me
that much. I fell completely back on the bed. I opened my
mouth and nothing would come out. I mean nothing would come
out. I just, I was like And nothing
came out of the closet. It felt like I laid there forever.
But finally nothing came out of the closet. I finally got
up and I ran. I ran downstairs. But that's
what happens. Fear will shut you down spiritually. That's what he's saying. Lift
up the hands. Restore the straightness. The
feeble knees, which has a meaning of A paraplegic can't walk. You literally can't walk. The
fear has taken you so bad, it has shut your body down. And the feeble knees, lift up
the hands that hang down. One writer said this has to do
with neglecting prayer. I don't know. But he's saying here, this being
so, come on, pick up the pace. Lift up your hands and your feeble
knees and make straight paths. Listen, make straight paths. That means smooth. That means
plain. The actual meaning in Greek means
a wheel track. Best I can think of is a railroad
track. You know, a train runs on that straight track. That's
why he's saying, stay on track. Stay on that straight track.
getting sidetracked. Stay on that straight track.
You make straight paths for your feet. You know, it's hard enough
as it is without us adding to it. Lest that which is lame be
turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. And I'm going to just say a couple
of words. We'll pick back up verse 14.
But instead of all these He says, follow peace. Follow peace. This peace that we have in Christ. And no doubt there was a squabble
going on between those who believed and those who were wanting to
turn back. And you know weaker brethren.
There's weaker brethren. There's babes in Christ. There
are babes in Christ. And they get caught up in the
fray and are confused. And He's saying here, follow
peace with all men. Don't build this wall that no one can get
over. He said don't start this fighting
and taking sides and division. He said don't do that. Follow
peace with all men and holiness with that which no man shall
see the Lord. To follow after, and this is
what it means when He says follow peace. Now listen, because this
is what we need. To follow after so as to catch
up. Because right now you're behind. Right now you're behind in your
attitude, in your conduct. He said, you're behind. Follow
peace, that is, pursue it eagerly. It's a sense of urgency. That's the way we are to pursue
it. What have we learned? We learn anything tonight? Did
we? Did we? I sure hope so. I do
hope so. We learned that chasing is of
God. It's for our discipline. It's for our instruction. It's
for our teaching. It's for our maturing, growing up in Christ. It'll keep us from running with
the world. It'll make us sensitive to the
Spirit of God. And faint not, when you're correct,
when you're chasing, Remember this, remember this, whatever
it is you're going through, God is dealing with you as a son
and a daughter whom he loves and delights in. You're just not going through
it. God's purpose is in it.